Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1887-08-09
N. Y. ELEVATED RAILROADS.
A SYSTEM CARRYING HALF . MILLION
PASSENGERS DAILY.

pletely eoniases him. II is difficult Tor
him 10 understand which aide OF the road
he mus, ascend In order TO set the tram
he wants
A prominent Western real estate man,
on bis frs, visi, to New York retsnily'
s.cended the stairs OF the western track
Of the Sixth avenue line at Park Place
TO take . train for an uptown hotel:
"This IL the down.uain track; you'll
have to 20 down stairs and come up on
the other side," said the gAieman. The
.uangr wen, down one flight OF stairs.
crossed the stree, aud ascended another
fight. Hs found himself =, the same
station tina, he bal Just left. lie tried
TO eross the track but was restrained from
doing 30. lie was 90 confused that .
guard conducted him below. directed him
10 the proper stairs. and instructed him
tina, he mus, always turn his face in the
direction he desired 10 20 and then take
the Ugh, hand track lie gained the sta
ton. bu, tried to gain the platform
through the exi, gate. lie was tunnel
back, took his place in . long line OF
passengers who were buying their tickets
with grea, alaeri,y. II he had been oo.
.ervan, he would have seen tina, each had
q nickel ready. lie ,hru,, n dollar bill
Ia a, the window. II took him minute
TO gather up bis handful Of change.
While be was doing this score OF pas.
.engen were trying TO struggle past him.
bu, they were unable 20 do 80. The
stranger finally gained the platform and
.hsavsd sigh Of relief. he heard some
one shout Tickets. sir :" but be paid no
heed. fof be had bOugh, bis ticket
Then the train rushed up. aud the
stranger made dash to re, aboard. bat
the gaiem.n eaugh, his arm and directed
him TO drop hi. tickle, 10 the receptacle
with a sor, Of pump lever ,hs, stands at
the entrance to the platform. When the
stranger had finally deposited hi. ,iess,
be made mad ru.h for thu Train, but
the guard slammed the gate Of the plat
form, aud would not. 10 the mans intense
d,sus,. .dni, him lie looked do'etal'
bu, hi. grisf gave Nay to safpfise when
two minute. later another train came
along. lie Instructed the guard 10 let
him CT a. J3l street. The guatd' on
elevated usirs have no time to look ster
each passenger II they ofen Aad close
the platform gate. ard announces each
station asa train stops aud give the next
station a. IL starts. they have done ihs'f
duty. Scms Of them have a confidential
way Of calling ou, the stops IN very
uninislligible speech ,ha, would pro-
woke the envy q the average brakeman
on a Western railroad. When the train
started from the 25d street station the
guard shouted "33d stree, nex, = The
wosd. "33d street were in a loud tone
The "neIt" was almos, uninielhgiole.
The stranger thinking that be vas being
carried away from 35d street. made de'-
psrs,e effort to ge, of. but the platform
gate restrained him. Finally he reached
SD street. descended TO the ground. and
walked to hi. hotel perpls,ei. but after
all pleased with the wonderful elevated
railway system Of Ney York He had
been accustomed 10 travelling on lines
whose passengers 90; aboard and di'em.
buked with sK.sPer.,ing celebration.
There are some features about the man.
agemsn, Of |. roads unliks the conduct Of
any other line. in America. Every day
an "unusasl occurrence" report |. made
on, and laid before the general manager.
II reports. for example. iha, AninioI'el''
ed man tried TO ge, aboard q, one .a,ion
aud had to be pg, down stairs ,ha, a
man with an unmuErlsd dog In bis arms
70, aboard At 18th street. aud that
another man With another unmuzzlsd
dog followed Ia hi. wake and tried 10 ge,
aboard. but was turned back by the
,ceen,ric ga,sman. al,aoash the ticket
seller insisted that be should be admitted.
There WAS brief war Of word. between
the tieke..sellsr and the gaiernsn. bu, the
latter ,riumphsd and the man had TO 20
and buy a muzzle for hi, dOs before the
man q, the gate would ls, him pass.
One Of the mos, usual occurrences Of
recent date was the case Of an old aud
somewhat txhilara,ed eoun,ryman who
took the 5sth street train for Harlem.
Thi. is a train on the Sixth avenue line
which leave. the road leading TO Harlem
and ends =, the southern end Of Central
Park. The old man wen, TO the terminus
OF the 5s,h street line. found out bis
mistake, wen, down stairs and up stairs
again. took . return train. was carried by
where be ough, TO have changed cars.
and finally became 90 confused iha, be
bera,ed the guard. whe pu, him off at
the first station. lie crossei over the
line once more. took an uptown train.
and amused himself by calling out At
every station, in = cynical, re,engeful
tone, "ChAnge for Harlem y The cry
made one nervous woman. not acquainted
with the route. rush out and leave the
train which Was bound for Harlem. Al
l25,h street more stranger; were confused
by the old mans call OF "Change for
Harlem J" and again he was compelled to
leave the train. with the result that be
did no, reach Harlem until the nsx, day,
but when he got there be was . wiser
and more sober man.
There are 80 miles Of double track or Ga
miles In all In the elevated system Of New
York. Every day track.hAnds walk over
|, and another se. walk under Il, eraning
their nseks IS they look up for any dsfec,
In the line. At il0th street the 9th
avenue track Is at points more than GO
feet, and the inspectors above have q
dirzy walk, while those on the surface
crook their neeks out OF shape In gazing
up ct the ues,le. The ride over this
high section OF the line makes many ner-
vous persons very .imid, bu, the track is
90 securely guarded with heavy guard
timbers that IL would be almos, impos-
sible for train to leave.,he rails. In one
or two instances axles have broken. but
no train has ever left the track.
The system carries daily half . mil.
lion passengers. To do this $500 trains
are run. 4. 500 employees kept busy, SO
. A "a l.-~-.ss.....l 4 nnn -.